The Pumpkin Patch Part 1

I can remember seeing photos of my friend Jen C-K's younger brother Mack at a pumpkin patch when I was a teenager and I thought - what's cuter than a kid next to a bunch of pumpkins? I couldn't wait to have my own kids to prop them next to a pumpkin and SNAP... Here are my photos...




Reese loves cows. She has a stuffed one that I got her in Milwaukee that she named "Moo." This guy looks just like Moo.

GOONIES!!!!



What a difference a year makes. This is Reese and Aidan 2009.


Here's the photo from 2008.

Touch and Go...

Reese's favorite character is Cinderella and she carries this 3" Cinderella figurine around with her. While playing at Evie's house Reese broke out into hysterics. It might come as quite a shock, but my children are very over dramatic. I went over to Reese to find out what the problem was she showed me Cinderella in one hand and Cinderella's head in the other hand. Reese was beside herself and I told her I would see what I could do and that I was sorry for her loss. I put Cinderella and her head in a ziplock baggie and purchased superglue on my way home. Cinderella reported for surgery later that evening.

Cinderella pre-op.

Dr. Mom post-op. I superglued my finger to Cinderella during the procedure.

Oh crap, now what? I yelled to Daryl to bring me q-tips and nail polish remover - STAT!

Daryl assisted in trying to unfuse me from Cinderella. It took a long time and at one point a laughing Daryl gave up and left me to finish the job. If you've ever glued yourself to anything, you know that it hurts and that you cannot just pull your skin off or you will literally pull your skin off! I slowly tried to administer more nail polish remover while I continued to slowly peel my skin away. I started to panic because it didn't seem to be working.

After 30 minutes I was finally free from Cinderella.

As a result, my fingerprint is permanently on Cinderella's tush and I'm sure the remnants of superglue will come off my fingers over time.

Both Mom and Cinderella were expected to make a full recovery until Cinderella lost her head again this evening. I must replace Cinderella instead of further operations, next stop Ebay.

Here comes the bride...

I love everything about weddings. One of my favorite things is a fresh copy of Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine from the newsstand. I watch Who's Wedding is it Anyway, Platinum Weddings, and I follow several wedding/party themed blogs. If I could get married once a year, I would (don't worry, the groom would be the same, and yes it would still be Daryl).

I've been asked by one of my oldest friends, Jennifer to be her maid of honor and I could not be more thrilled. I love her and I am so excited that she is getting married. We've been trading emails back and forth with ideas and I am so happy to share my wedding wisdom with her. Planning a wedding can be one of the most exciting, overwhelming, and stressful things you will ever do and I hope I can help her navigate through the process.

I've been interning with a local event/wedding planning company for about a year and a half, and I was fortunate enough to be asked by several friends over the last several years to assist with their weddings in some aspect or another. Coordinating weddings is a passion of mine and I hope one day that I could make a living doing it, but for now I will continue to take each wedding as it comes. I treasure each wedding that a bride and groom invite me to be a part of. I hold the weddings of my dearest friends close to my heart. I was so thrilled to help them make their day a dream come true.

Coordinating a wedding is a lot of work but is totally worth it when you see a smiling bride and groom enjoying their wedding day. It pains me to attend a wedding as a guest if I see the bride talking to the caterer or having to remind the band to do something. That's my job and I always want to step in and make it right for her, but then I have to remind myself that I'm a guest and I keep my mouth shut and wait for my slice of cake.

I love to see each bride and groom make their wedding a reflection of them and I love when they bring something unique to their event. I can still taste the delicious Nutella that my friends Adam & Jen had as filling in their wedding cake, Holly & Andy had pumpkin Ravioli at their fall themed wedding, Susan & Tim had the most delicious macaroni and cheese and even had Halloween candy and costume props for their late October wedding. They all made it their own and I will always remember these special touches.

I can't wait to see how Jennifer's wedding will come together and then one day (very far in the future) I will be a mother of the bride and mother of the groom when it is Reese and Aidan's turn to get married. The wedding that I assisted at last weekend had so many fun aspects including a father-daughter dance that brought me to tears. I was only an assistant at this wedding, not the planner, so I had not met the bride and groom until they arrived at the reception, so there I was crying at a wedding where I did not know any of the people, I did not have an emotional investment in them, I was imagining what it would be like at Reese's wedding. The bride and her father joyfully danced to "My Girl." You could tell that they were close to each other and both were equally proud to be each other's father/daughter. It was a moment that I know they will both remember forever and I'm crying as I'm typing this (what's my problem?). I could picture Daryl dancing with Reese and the tears welled up in my eyes in front of all of these strangers. They had a slide show put together by the groom's brothers including embarrassing photos of the groom as a kid. It just reminded me that one day the photos that I'm taking now of my kids may show up on their wedding day. I should start thinking about what I might say in my speech at their wedding, but since that will be about 30 years from now, I should probably focus on what I will say at Jennifer's wedding first. Sometime in between Jennifer's wedding and Reese's wedding, my cousin Kelsey will get married too. More tears.

If I was crying at a stranger's wedding I can only imagine what I will be like at my best friend's wedding or at my daughter's wedding. Do they make waterproof mascara that actually works?

And the Grammy goes to...

Aidan.

For anyone that has had the pleasure of listening to my friend Aidan sing you know he's a natural. Music is in his blood. He is by nature part of the Roam family. My mother-in-law's family is the kind that does skits at holidays and family reunions. It's just who they are and I love them for it. I do not chose to participate because I do not have the natural talent or the desire to perform for an audience. My husband has it and apparently my son has it. Reese is a wildcard, so we'll wait and see with her.

We took a Music Together class with Aidan and Reese over a year ago and the instructor said that Aidan could be a drummer, he just has a natural sense of rhythm. He also loves to sing. He starts singing at random times and sometimes makes up his own songs. It makes me laugh out loud to hear his interpretation of what he thinks are the words to certain songs. His first album will include the following hits:

• Life is a Hallway
• Potty Like a Rock Star
• Mary was a Little Man
• Tinkle Tinkle Little Star

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

One of the "joys" of living in the county (that's St. Louis speak for the burbs) is yard work. Daryl and I have gone to great lengths to avoid this "joy" by living in the city. We are losing so many of our friends in the city because of their desperate want for a yard. I learned once again why I do not want a yard.

We are staying with Daryl's parents and tonight I raked leaves with Diana (aka Mimi), Aidan & Reese. Their home is beautiful and has a huge front and backyard with several trees - thank you Mr. Original Owner - we love ALL the trees and ALL the leaves!

Diana used the leaf blower the previous evening and bagged some of the leaves herself, but we had a lot more work to look forward to tonight. Aidan & Reese did what can only be described as a natural reflex - they jumped in the leaves over and over again. I loved watching their faces light up as they threw leaves, buried themselves in piles of leaves and kicked the leaves. Yes, I felt the "joy" that I described above, but the "joy" quickly faded as we continued to stuff brown bags after brown bag after brown bag with said leaves.

The neighbor took pity on us and offered to let us borrow her mulcher. As you've probably guessed, I've never used one of these contraptions (nor did I know one existed). Neighbor gave me a quick tutorial and I was sucking up those leaves and stuffing more bags.


Here I am in action. Notice my sunglasses are still on my head.

Reese, always the helper takes her raking very seriously.

Reese, like her mama feels that one cannot possibly bag leaves unless they have their sunglasses on.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I love Fall for so many reasons. I love the crisp jacket weather, the colors of the changing/falling leaves, pumpkins everywhere you look, candy corn, Halloween costumes, and the Halloween candy!

One of my favorite movies plays only at this time of year and I usually miss it on regular tv. I love "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Yes, I realize that it is a 30 minute long cartoon, and it is a really bad movie. It is a classic and a big part of my childhood. Plus who couldn't love poor Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Poor Blockhead!

The YMCA near my in-law's house was playing this beloved Halloween classic and had pumpkin painting before the movie. This sounded like a perfect way to spend a fall evening with Aidan & Reese.

Aidan, the artist paints his pumpkin.


Me and my fellow movie patrons enjoying popcorn.

Lisa and Finni met us at the Y for movie night. We thought it would be a cheap and easy night out with the kiddos. This was before we realized that the team setting up the movie screen arrived to set up at the time that the movie was scheduled to begin. They did set up and the movie finally began 20 minutes later than scheduled. As a mother who plans each outing with just enough snacks, entertainment, wipes, pullups/diapers, etc and as an event planner - these situations really burn my toast. Once the movie was going it turned out to be okay, but I knew we couldn't stay until the end and I was trying to determine my exit strategy. It was a double feature and the second movie was Monsters vs. Aliens, which they had just seen the previous evening because Daryl bought it for our movie collection. Lisa and Finni bolted after Charlie Brown and we stuck around for half of the second movie.

These are the moments that I am thankful for implementing the "5 minute warning" early on and making it a habit. For various situations, I always alert Aidan and Reese 5 minutes before something is about to happen and it works without incident about 90% of the time. This works for bedtime, leaving playgroup and apparently for departing a movie currently in progress. We made it out of there without a scene, made it back to Mimi & Pappy's house to put our freshly painted pumpkins on the front porch and went to bed.

Up, Up and Away

One of my favorite things about living in St. Louis is the Great Forest Park Balloon Race! This year we finally made it to the best part of all, the Friday night before the race they light all the balloons and you can walk right up to them. We packed snacks and met some of our favorite people for a picnic under the balloons.

Our crew.

Jameson enjoyed the balloon glow too!

All lit up